The present invention relates to an ink cartridge for an ink-jet recording apparatus, which is loaded on a carriage provided with a recording head for ejecting ink droplets and supplies ink, and which is provided with a storage medium for customer support.
An ink cartridge has been put to practical use which is provided with a storage means, wherein amounts of inks, the date of manufacture, a trademark, and the like are stored in the storage means as data, and data on such as the maintenance situation and the like transmitted from a main unit of a recording apparatus are also stored, as required, so as to realize customer support.
Such an ink cartridge needs to be loaded such that electrodes of the storage means are brought into contact with the recording apparatus, more particularly electrodes for contact which are provided in a holder.
Meanwhile, to smoothly load the ink cartridge in the holder having an ink supply needle implanted therein, a certain degree of play is required between them. For this reason, if vibrations or impacts are applied due to such as the printing operation or the movement of the main unit of the apparatus after the loading of the cartridge, the engagement between an ink supply port of the ink cartridge and an ink supply needle of the carriage can become loose. In such a case, there are drawbacks in that airtightness declines, and that printing becomes impossible in the event that the reading of data has become impossible due to faulty contact between the electrodes for contact of the recording apparatus and the electrodes of the storage means.